


The Spirit of the Season

by kiwisandwich (panconkiwi)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-01 09:12:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18333038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panconkiwi/pseuds/kiwisandwich
Summary: People who lost the love for Candlelights usually attributed it to a side-effect of growing up, or the gratuitous capitalism of modern day. Johann doesn’t know which one applies to him, but he knows the exact date his hatred for all things Candlelights was born: when he started working in retail.





	The Spirit of the Season

**Author's Note:**

> a candlelights fic??? in april??????? is more likely than you think  
> Based on a true story.  
> Thanks to @glowstickia for beta-reading <3

Johann counted the seconds to the end of his shift. Four and a half hours, two hundred and seventy minutes, sixteen thousand and… something seconds. He felt like dying, but there was a long line at the register and that could inconvenience the patrons.

It was Candlelights’ Eve, the last day of Johann’s season torture until next year, so at least that was something else to look forward to. Sadly, the last day was the busiest one. Johann didn’t even work at a big store, just a humble candy cart in the halls of the department store, but not even he was safe from the last minute shoppers. At least he wasn’t in the men’s clothes section like last year.

“Can you fill this bag with one of each?” Said a woman pointing at the candy trays under the bar.

“Some of those have different prices, I have to measure them separately.”

“Sure.”

Johann separated the candy into four paper bags according to price.

“Excuse me, I said I want them all on the same bag.”

Johann breathed in and out. Still better than the men’s section.

There was a guy looking at the stuff under the counter with inhuman attention, he had been at it in the time it took Johann to attend seven people, including the one-of-each lady. By the time he finally had enough with his meticulous process, there was no one else left in front of the cart. Even after reaching the register, he kept stealing looks at the trays next to him.

“Say, what’s best for a romantic gift?”

_Here we go_. The problem with working at a candy cart on Candlelights was that most people defaulted to sweets when they didn’t know what to get someone. Johann liked candy as much as the next guy, but people asked him questions like he knew some forbidden secret just because he was working there.

“You can never go wrong with chocolate,” he answered in his best convincing tone.

The guy nodded like that was the wisest piece of advice he had ever gotten. “Hmm,” he looked at the different chocolate options in front of him. “There’s still so much to pick from.”

Yeah, these things never stopped at the first answer. “Mint has been popular this season.”

“Is it good?”

“Yeah,” Johann said, though he didn’t like those much.

The man crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Johann. “What do _you_ recommend?”

Johann blinked a couple times. “Excuse me?”

“You don’t seem to like mint that much, maybe you have something better in mind?”

Ugh, Johann really didn’t want to think now, why couldn’t this guy just stick to the cheapest chocolate like everyone else?

“Sorry,” the man said, “I’m becoming the annoying client. And on Candlelights Eve, to booth.”

“I don’t mind” Johann lied.

The man sighed. “You don’t need to lie, I mean,” he opened his jacket and showed the logo of a sport clothing brand underneath, “I know how it is.”

Johann grimaced. Sport stores were basically the men’s section of the mall. “My condolences, man.”

“Ha, ha, it’s okay.” He smiled sheepishly, “Sorry for adding to the pile of work, I was so caught up on what’s the best way to make a good impression that I ended up leaving everything to the last minute. My break is about to end, actually, so I swear I’ll leave you alone after we’re done with this.”

It was hard to stay mad at someone who was having it as bad, if not worse than you. “Okay, I’ll help you, but I don’t know anything about chocolate.”

“At least you’ve tried all of these, right?”

Johann shrugged. “I think so, yeah.”

“And which one you liked best?”

Well, at least he didn’t have to lie about that. He pointed at the tray with chocolate dipped coffee beans.

“I’m a bitter guy, sorry if you were expecting something else.”

“No, no”, the guy said, smiling from ear to ear. “I like it. Can I have a bag of these?”

“Gift wrapping?”

The man nodded. When Johann was about to close the gift bag, he handed him a paper note. “Wait! I need to put this inside, too.”

“Alright,” Johann put the paper inside and grabbed a pen from the counter. “From?”

“Avi. A-v-i.”

“Here you go,” he handed Avi the bag.

“Thank you!” And Avi handed him the bag back. “It’s for you.”

Johann took the bag. “Thanks… wait, what?”

“Happy Candlelights!” Said Avi as he left to his side of the mall.

Johann stood there, looking the way Avi had left until his figure was lost among the people of the mall. When he finally snapped out of it, he checked inside the bag and fished the paper note Avi had slid before.

It was a phone number.

***

Avi didn’t let himself stop moving until he was inside the sportswear store again. Magnus was the first to greet him.

“Yo, Avi, how did it-?

“Aaaaaaaaaah,” Avi screamed against his hands. He didn’t see Magnus approach him, but he sure felt the strong pats of support on his back.

“There, there. Didn’t go as planned?”

“No, it went exactly as planned,” he said, “I just can’t believe I actually did it. Oh my god, what if he thinks I’m an idiot?”

“At least he knows your name, right?”

“Right, then I’ll be Avi the idiot.”

“Yes. No!”

“Hey!” Their manager yelled at them from the register, “You two, go back to work!”

Avi breathed in and out, okay, emotions off, retail mode on. That’s when his phone buzzed.

Emotions ON. He checked his phone, and…

####  `Unknown`

####  `>my shift is over at 7 -johann`

####  `>(-the guy from the candy cart)`

Avi clutched the phone close to his chest and yelled, “Yes!”

“Avi!”

“Coming!”

####  `See you at the candlelights tree! -Avi<`

**Author's Note:**

> talk to me about johavi @ vampirekravitz on tumblr


End file.
